Process Drama (17)

After reading the articles for this week, I found that process drama is my new favorite task to try and incorporate in the classroom. I thought that all of the ideas were really beneficial to all topics of an English classroom. I loved the vocabulary lesson, in which the students act out a word and freeze when the teacher counts down. This is an awesome and engaging way to remember vocabulary words. I think I would definitely use a variation of that activity in my class. In addition, I loved the aspects of creating process drama for poems. Putting yourself in the poem and looking at all of the different perspectives is an awesome way to create a better understanding. Before this reading, I believed process drama to be acting a play out. (reading the line from a play in class) Now, I know that there is so much depth to process drama. It's a creative way to engage your students and I look forward to incorporating it into my future classroom.

Kindle, Nook, IPAD (16)

I think I am going to get a Kindle for Christmas! I have been looking up books that you can buy for it and I found a lot of new graphic novels that I would of never been interested in reading until we discussed them in class. I think I will like this type of story a lot better because I remember details when I see them. I looked at an IPAD in the store just to see if I would like reading on that type of screen and at first I was hesitant because I do like to have the actual paper in front of me, but after reading a story on it I really liked it. I loved that I could highlight and make notes on the side of the pages. I think that this is going to be somethingreally beneficial to me and I even think you could use it in the classroom. So glad I looked into it :)

ESL and Technology (15)

In a lot of my other classes we have been discussing second language acquisition and how students go through a critical period in which they have the most ability to learn a new language. While reading the pieces required theis week, I was often thinking about how to help students who are learning English as their second language and how these programs would be especially helpful for students who have passed up their critical period and need extra help to learn the language. I think that with assistance, blogs, voicethread, and podcasts would all be extremely helpful for a student learning English. Hearing, writing, and speaking a language are the best way to become more knowledgeable in a language. If I ever have the opportunity to use technology in an ESL classroom, I will definitely consider using these many digital tools.

Learning About Voicethread (14)

In this weeks readings, I really enjoyed learning about the program, Voicethread, and how to incorporate it into an ELA classroom. I had been slightly familiar with voicethread before this reading because another student in class had presented it as their digital tool, and therefore I had an idea about how to use it. After reading the article, I realized how beneficial it can be for a classroom, and it's really not very difficult. I took it to be a way to analyze and discuss important aspects of a reading by creating a slideshow of images and audio that the students could create to answer questions or hold discussions about a story. Another cool part about it is you can keep your voicethread private to just your classroom. This allows students to be able to listen and watch other student's voicethreads and learn from them and use them as review. Another aspect discussed in the article was to make sure that students move beyond just events in the story and focus more on critically analyzing issues that are brought up in the story and how they effect the world they live in. The final aspect that is important is to make sure that as a teacher you allow time for in class discussion. By doing this, students are able to present their voicethreads to the class and also use them for discussion in the class.

Graphic Novels (13)

Last weeks readings were about graphic novels and how they are becoming more and more popular as a means for literature in an ELA classroom. Before this reading, I had never heard of "graphic novels"; however, I know what a comic is and the meaning behind creating comics. I thought that it was really interesting that you could potentially use a graphic novel in class to portray the meaning of a story in a different mode. (which really is this focus of this class) I think that they would be very beneficial because they offer pictures to go along with the words. This type of reading would have really helped  me in high school because I often had a difficult time making sense of the writing or what the meaning of a chapter would be when I finished reading it. I am excited to potentially use graphic novels in my ELA classroom and also to start reading them myself. Also, I really like the "fill in the comic" activity we did in class on Monday. I think that it sparks a lot of creativity and the students would really enjoy it. They would each see the wide variety of meanings that you can create of one simple comic strip.

The 20-Shot Short Story (12)

This week in class we created a 20-shot short story on The Hills Like White Elephants. I thought that this project was pretty awesome because it didn't take us a very long time and we were able to get the main point of the project finished in the time we were given. I could definitely see myself using something like this in my classroom. Creating the story board beforehand was extremeley beneficial. It gave us an idea of exactely what came next as far as plot in the story. All we had to do was refer back to the story board to remind us which part we needed to focus on next. In addition, it was interesting to see how simple this was to create. I think that many teachers would be apprehensive about using video in the classroom because of complications; however, I now believe the exact opposite. It is not difficult at all to create the video if you have the proper technology. We used an Iphone to film our short story and that worked perfectly. This would be a good opportunity to incorporate a "Bring your own device" (which I talked about in an earlier blog) where the students could use their own phones to film if cameras were not available.

I really saw the importance of story boarding in this project. It helps to organize all of your thoughts about the story. It was interesting to see how each person in my group represented the story and which parts we thought were the most important. I would definitely recommend this project to current teachers and would also use it in my classroom!

I Created a Podcast! (11)

This weekend me and Linsey worked together to create a podcast. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I had some trouble editing, but I did learn to use Audacity and then export it to an MP3 file. We had some trouble with volume and talking to quickly, but overall it was a good learning experience! The book review was a cool project and I would definitely use it in my classroom.

Keeping the Arts (10)

There has been so much talk lately of schools eliminating the study of the arts from public schools around the country. Fortunatley, I don't know very many schools that have gone through with it. I went to a high school with a wide variety of tools for technology. We had morning announcements and videos that were played through the tvs every morning. I was never "in to " video as a student; however, it was a popular class. From the discussions in class and from the reading by Miller and McVee I can see the importance of these classes and how disappointing it would be to no longer offer them. Teachers should try and incorporate video into their classrooms because it is something that the students can figure out for themselves. In this chapter, I have learned that it is ok not know everything, especially when it comes to learning through video. In this case, it would be ok to let go of control in the classroom and let the students learn and even perhaps teach eachother.

I Finally Know what Podcasting is :) (9)

It may seem hard to believe, but before this class I didn't know exactley what a podcast was. I had heard it mentioned here or there but never knew how to make or use one. I read the article assigned for this week, where it gave an awesome description of podcasting and how to incorportate podcasts into the ELA classroom. I also learned that you can use podcasts for group causes. You can go onto Itunes and simply click podcasts and you are introduced to thousands of topics that people have chose to discuss. I think it would be pretty to cool to make your class have a podcast rather than a blogger if this was possible. Because most children grow up listening to music, I personally think it would be pretty interesting to hear my students hold a conversation over a podcast. I found this article really valuable; I am excited to create my own Podcast in this class so I can see what all the fuss is about.

Blogs Blogs Blogs (8)

After reviewing Wilber's readings, I stumbled upon Gary Coyle's grade 8 Humanities blog which really stuck out to me. He used the blog as both a place to write information to the class about what was due and projects that he assigned and also as a blogging site. It was pretty cool to see how everything was organized and it really gave me the encouagement to include a blog like this into my classroom. All of his students were listed on a seperate tab, separated by class and you could click on any of their links. In addition, it was pretty cool to see that he used this in his 8th grade classroom in Americas Embassy School in New Delhi, India. As a class, we always discuss high school ELA because that it where "most" of us will be teaching; however, it is possible that are certification could lead us to a seventh or eighth grade classroom. The ability for us as teachers to incorporate a blog into a class is really awesome and it is interesting to see how much blogs have taken off in the last ten years. I looked at Rebecca Blood which was a blog from when blogs first came about and it was interesting to see how different they are now. There wasn't as much discussing; it really centered around posting links and sending viewers to other places on the internet which I found pretty ironic. In today's blogs, we see a lot more discussion. Discussion, in my opinion, is the main point for using blogs because they get everybody talking about a common topic. Using hyperlinks is only something that will make your writing better and allow students to make connections between lots of different information on the internet.

Eighth Grade Blog

Plagiarism (7)

I though that the reading assigned by Kist was really interesting this week. I really enjoy this book; I think that it offers lots of good advice to us as teachers. This chapter especially focused on the safety of promoting the internet in the clasroom and making sure that our students are being "safe" when they travel around the internet during class on school computers. A lot of issues involving promoting the use of computers in the classroom revolved around the evolution of "cyber bullying" which has become a problem for many kids in high school. In my opinion, I don't agree that the use of computers in classroom is encouraging cyber bullying. It is giving students another outlet to use and find information. I don't know if this reading was directly insinuating that there is a connection between the two; however, this is just my opinion. In my high school, we were always encouraged to be creative and we were given the oppertunity to work online during class. I never heard of a cyber bullying problem because of this. In addition, I did go to a very large school that was technologically advanced and I think that because of this we had no motivation to cyber bully. The only think that I remember as "unsafe" on the high school computers was the ability for students to access a website called, chat roulette, which allowed students to see other students through the webcams on the computers.  At the end of the semester a group of kids were caught using this website and it was then blocked from the school computers. I think that it is going to take a while to figure out which websites are unsafe for students to use. I think that it will come with experience and we will learn as we go. However, I believe that overall computers are a benefit to the classroom and with time we will learn how to make them especially safe.

Inclusion in the English Classroom (6)

I am a part of the Adapted Physical Acivity minor and so I am constantly learning about a variety of different disabilities that students may have in the classroom. Although the minor is for physical education, I have tried my best to use what I learn and connect it with my interest in teaching high school English. I love working with people with disabilties and am very knowledgeable of different techniques in teaching kids with disabilities in the regular English Classroom. I am curious if my other classmates ever think about the kids with disabilities that will be in their future classrooms. Because this class is centered around being multimodal in the classroom, as teachers, how are we going to include and engage students with different abilities into the lesson? In my opinion, in our future classrooms, I think that is going to be a very important question to consider and I think that we should all have an answer.

Too Much, Too Fast? (5)

I read an article from the National Association of Elementary School Teachers and I discovered that there is a lot of investigation taking place when it comes to children and technology. I related this to the discussion that we had in class on Monday, where we talked about how children in our generation are involved and surrounded by a little too much technology that may become rather overwhelming. As a young adult in this same generation, I am surprised by the knowledge that these kids have picked up so quickly. In my opinion, it may be a little too young. There is nothing wrong with using a game system or ipad every once in a while for enjoyment; however, it seems as though the kids are as addicted to technology as we are...and what does a 4 year old really have to talk about on a cell phone?

Too much, too fast?

This article discussed some interesting facts about young learners and their digital tool availability. They also come up and talk about some cool ways to introduce tech. to a young learner.

Focus on "Multimodal" (4)

In Kajder's readings this week, digital immagrants was a term introduced to me that really caught my attention. I am really intrigued by the amount of technology that is available for me to use in my classrooms. I never really took the time to realize that older teachers may not be giving their students the access to different modes of technology. I think that what everyone needs to realize is that technology will only be used as much as it is given access too. Not every classroom has to have technology as the central piece. In my opinion, the most important thing to remember is to be MULTIOMODAL. Isn't that what we are learning about? I think that Kajder does a very good job  showing the differences between the different teachers and how they all incorporate some type of device, even in a classroom where they are not given access to as many tools.

Technology Encourages Learning (3)

In 20ll, Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina's Super Intendant, Mark Edwards, brought laptops into their schools to help create a new type of learning for their students. "He says he anticipated it would take time for students and teachers to master the use of laptop computers, digital curricula, and more personalized ways of teaching and learning." Little did he know, his district went from number 30 to number 4 in just three short years.

He explains that, "students like using relevant tools and materials, the kids are more engaged and excited about school. They're doing things in class and saying, 'I will do this in my future.' "

Since when do you have students that believe what they are learning will be beneficial to their futures. Usually it's, "Why do we have to learn this?"

Is technology really making students want an education? I'm starting to think so.
Education Week Article

Learning About Multiple Sign Systems (2)

The arts are such an important aspect of teaching and learning. The information that we learn in one class can be useful in other classes; however, it is our job as teachers to pull this information out and show our students how they can relate and use the information they've learned to better their understanding in a different class.

 I read the article Responding to Literature Across Multiple Sign Systems on d2l and I learned a lot of valuable information about incorporating other means of discussion and thinking into my classroom for a vairety of different learners. Although the article is written based on a young group of learners, I think that a lot of the information covered is valuable in a classrom of highschool students. I wanted to just share some of the ways that they got their students talking and discussing ideas about the reading they were assigned in class. The author explains, "The discussions always occur within the context of a broader classroom inquiry, and the books are never read as an isolated experience. These literature circles encourage students to share their connections and to engage in collaborative thinking through their understandings about literature and life." I thought that this quote was interesting because it sums up the importance of not just assigning independent reading, but in addition to that allowing the students different means of discussing and asking questions about the material during class time. They stressed the importance of alotting time before a discussion for the students to use an organizer or web or even just a piece of paper to gather their thoughts about a reading and maybe to write down a question or two that they had. This benefited the discussion because as soon as the students got into their groups they were able to immediately engage in conversation about the book rather than using that time to discuss what they wanted to talk about.

To represent their emotions about a story they read, the "children used tempera, pastels, watercolors, chalk, charcoal, and pencil to visually portray visions from the book that reflected their emotional responses." As a student, I always enjoyed the oppertunity to use arts in the classroom; especially in highschool, when we read more emotion-filled stories. I think that the most important part about this is that we are identifying the needs of a variety of learners. The use of the arts is not only important in an English classroom, but also in other classes. It helps the students look at the information they are learning in a different way; and I see this as extremely beneficial to the learner.

As a teacher, I think that it is still a good idea to incorportate arts into the classroom to broaden the student's perspective on a certain reading. I attached a link which offers some free downloadable graphic organizers, webs, and character charts that can allow for good discussions of novels and short stories.
 Graphic Organizer, Webs, and Character Charts

Introduction to the Class (1)

Hi Everyone!

My name is Katie Betschart and I am a junior, Secondary English Education major with a minor in Adapted Physical Activity. I absolutley love working with people; individually or as a group. I love watching people improve and become successful. I have always wanted to be a teacher and my love for reading, writing, and movies has steered me in the direction of English Education. I am obsessed with seeing movies. New or old, if it looks interesting, I'll watch it. I love reading series. I am a Harry Potter "freak", or so I call it :) I read all of the books and own all of the movies. I could watch them everyday. In addition, I read the current series, The Hunger Games and absolutely loved it; however, I wasn't very impressed with the movie. I love romance novels and so Nicholas Sparks and Sarah Dessen are some of my favorites. I have read almost all of their novels and seen the movies that have come to theaters. If you know of any good books or movies definitely let me know :)!

I am excited to keep this blog as part of this course. I have never kept a blog before this course and so I am excited to see how much I will learn from it. Hopefully we will all be able to contribute some awesome ideas and advice on how to make a successfull English Classroom. If you have any advice, for me personally or any questions at all, feel free to ask!